Managing your reputation online seems to be virtually impossible as there is no way to control the way your name appears in slanderous Web pages on search engines — or is there?
Brand.com, a reputation management platform, announced today that the company is offering what it claims is the world’s first program for removing false and defamatory Web pages from search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
“For brands and individuals, nothing is more visible or damaging than negative Google search results, but in the past it was nearly impossible to get libelous Web content removed from Google’s index,” says Michael Zammuto, president of Brand.com.
The program that Brand.com has launched is called the De-Indexing Action Plan. When customers sign up for it, the company will first verify that the negative search result is false. Following that, a team of engineers, PR experts, journalists and thought leaders will coordinate the de-indexing process with Google, Yahoo and Bing and refute the false allegations with various pieces of evidence. This will likely take about four to 12 weeks.
Brand.com doesn’t reveal the specifics of how this is done, except to say that its team will rely on “proprietary software and processes” to clear the negative content and restore the victim’s reputation.
As negative content has the ability to spread fast and furiously online given the inherent viral nature of the Internet, having an option to remove any detrimental fake Web pages is a useful tool that people are likely to sign on for — but considering that the pricing for the service starts at $5000, this seems to be particularly aimed at the rich and famous who can’t afford to have their reputation sullied.
Headline image via Shutterstock
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